After 48 years, longtime Cleveland Orchestra percussionist starts new career phase

Lynn Ischay, The PDRichard Weiner, former principal percussionist of the Cleveland Orchestra, improvises on the xylophone at Severance Hall. One of the longest-serving members in orchestra history, Weiner retired from the group last month after 48 years.

Whenever people talk about Richard Weiner, the recently retired principal percussionist of the Cleveland Orchestra, the conversations inevitably center on 48, the number of years Weiner spent in the ensemble.

It's an incredible figure, to be sure, and a worthy topic of discussion, all the more so since Weiner spent 43 of those years as principal. As of Aug. 28, when he stepped down, he ranked as the orchestra's longest-serving member in recent history.

But no statistic, no matter how impressive, can truly summarize Weiner. No, whenever he eventually sets down his sticks, it's not the length but rather the quality of his tenure friends and observers will remember. That and his personality, humor and seemingly boundless energy.

"What distinguishes him from the other great percussionists is his beautiful touch and ability to bring the percussion instruments and therefore the music to life," said principal timpanist Paul Yancich, Weiner's former student and colleague of 30 years.

"His knowledge of percussion and musical experience are immense, and that certainly comes through in every note he plays."

It's still coming through. Although Weiner, 71, officially retired last month along with three other longtime members, he'll continue playing with the orchestra as an extra. He's even set to accompany the group on its upcoming tour of Europe, where he and his wife Jacqueline will no doubt maximize the opportunities to go hiking.

Only now, he'll answer to Jacob Nissly, the orchestra's new principal percussionist, formerly with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. No longer will it be his job to assign parts to the section or act as liaison to music director Franz Welser-Most.

Little wonder Weiner, a self-proclaimed "workaholic," switched his lesson times at the Cleveland Institute of Music to Tuesday mornings. That's when he'd normally be rehearsing, or fulfilling administrative duties.

"It's really hard to turn things off," said Weiner, father of two and grandfather of four. "I still feel connected to the institution . . . I have the Cleveland Orchestra, and I have my family. Those have been the focus all my life."

Weiner had been contemplating retirement the last several years, but kept postponing whenever details of a new project, program or tour materialized. Last season, for instance, he stayed on in large part to play Stravinsky and Bartok with Welser-Most.

Eventually, though, his determination to go out on top, and in good health, trumped his desire to keep reporting for duty at Severance Hall. Now, when he's not playing, he'll be sitting in the dress circle, critiquing performances right alongside his wife.

"I know there'll be pieces I'll wish I were down on stage playing," Weiner said. "But I think it's better to retire a little early than a little too late."

It's fitting, in a way, that Weiner's replacement is 28. That's how old he himself was when former music director George Szell named him principal in 1968.

By then, of course, Weiner had already been in the orchestra, his first professional engagement, half a decade, having been hired by the famously demanding maestro fresh out of Indiana University in 1963. "I auditioned for Szell every single day for those five years," recalled Weiner, describing the period as "nerve-wracking but exhilarating."

Szell wasn't the only music director Weiner got along well with. On the contrary, the percussionist said he maintained cordial relationships with all three directors after Szell: Lorin Maazel, Christoph von Dohnanyi and Welser-Most.

Hence his vast trove of pleasant memories. He'll never forget, for instance, playing in Australia's newly-opened Sydney Opera House with Maazel in 1973, or the 1965 performance in Tbilisi, when the lights went out during a hailstorm and the orchestra kept right on playing.

Really, though, Weiner said he's lived in the moment, savoring applause wherever and whenever it comes. Even after 48 years, he has yet to find a substitute for a standing ovation.

"Audience reaction is the most gratifying, as long as you know you've played well," he said, making an exception for the times he's been honored for executing sound effects like whips, gun-shots, lion's roars and sirens. "As percussionists, we're asked to do so many different things, not all of which will I miss. I prefer real instruments."

Chalk up his smooth career to good diplomacy. Early on, Weiner, who also holds a law degree from Cleveland State University, said he got in the habit of anticipating and resolving potential problems with conductors before they arose.

Also he took care never to allow conflicts to become personal, a maxim that proved useful in his negotiations of 12 musician contracts. Even now, he just finished working on the players' pension plan.

"In the end, we're all working together," Weiner said.

Law might have figured more largely in Weiner's life had fate not steered him repeatedly into percussion. Every time a figurative fork in the road appeared, something happened to nudge him down the path he's now been walking half a century without regret or thought of leaving.

Early on, for instance, he considered playing trombone. Then he saw trombone great Tommy Dorsey live at a club, and realized he wanted a different kind of life. Later, he got a music scholarship to IU, and during a period of doubt about his prospects as a percussionist, he found himself in Aspen, in the presence of Olivier Messiaen, giving the premiere of "Exotic Birds."

He also seems to have been destined for the job physically. Where many in his field struggle with back, shoulder or neck pain, Weiner has remained essentially injury-free, despite executing literally millions of repetitive movements over the years.

Far more likely to deliver an injury has been the boom on his sailboat, a vessel he plans to deploy more often in retirement. In addition to Lake Erie, too, Weiner also plans to explore publishing educational materials and his loves for photography and hiking.

"Even if you ride a bicycle, you miss out," he said. "You have to go out and seek things out."

More immediately, Weiner plans to continue teaching, extending a legacy that already includes former students in many of the orchestra world's top spots. One even found his way into Nine Inch Nails, the hit rock band founded in Cleveland.

His goal, he said, is to teach two or more years, thereby achieving one last, monumental benchmark and cementing his contribution to the field.

"I may make it to 50 [years of teaching]," Weiner said. "It's every musician's duty to give back. That's how the profession grows. You don't really replace anyone. You just build on what others have done."

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